My friends and I have decided to watch every film that has won an Academy Award for Best Picture in chronological order. We planning on watching one film a month, but we may increase the frequency at times in order to get through them quicker. We started last weekend with Wings, the winner for “Best Production” of 1927/28. A little side note here: the 1st Academy Awards didn’t have a “Best Picture” category; instead it gave out two awards one for “Best Production” and one for “Best Artistic Quality of Production”. Also of note is that until 1934 the Academy Awards used a non-calendar year to determine the nominees, thus the 1927/28.
Anyway, I enjoyed Wings. I can see why it won for “Most Outstanding Production”; the battle scenes are quite impressive especially considering they were filmed 80 years ago. I imagine that in 1927 it must have been truly amazing seeing the aerial battles of WWI carried out before your eyes. It’s interesting seeing these action scenes and thinking about how they would be filmed today. They would probably be fast, with cuts every five or six seconds. I often think that some directors today choose such fast paced editing because their stories lack substance and they are afraid of loosing their audience’s attention. There are several shots in Wings were the camera is mounted in front of the actor on the plane for extended shots of the action. All we see for 20 or 30 seconds is the actor’s head darting back and forth, desperately looking for his opponent, and the ground and the sky whizzing behind him. It is an effective shot that portrays the chaos and danger of dog fighting, and one we probably wouldn’t see if the same movie were made today. Beyond the action the story itself seemed average, but that can be said about many great films when you strip them down to the basics. The actor’s were good, and although Clara Bow did not have a whole lot of screen time you can see why she was the original “It” girl. When she was on screen she brought to the movie a certain vivaciousness that the other actors seemed to lack. Overall a good start to our Academy Awards festivities. Next month is Sunrise the winner of the “Most Artistic Quality of Production” award for 1927/28. I’m looking forward to that one. I haven’t seen it since film school but I remember it being one of the best silent films I have ever seen.
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In "Sunset Boulevard," the fading actress who serves as the main character (can't remember the name) says that they didn't NEED words once upon a time, in the silent films, because the face and the eyes expressed all that was necessary. Got to see that put into effect in Wings; it was pretty neat. They did a very effective job, I must say. Just like any good movie, silent or modern or whatever, if you end up rooting for the characters and being painted when something doesn't go their way, you're being sucked into the movie, manipulated by the director and the actors as you should be (unless you're a glacially unmoved kind of person). When the one character tears up the picture with the truth written on the back, my heart jumped. OH NO! So, we will see if sound improves things with future films. Thanks for the stripping it down, Aaron ...lots to think about!
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